Would You Like To Have Your Book Group On TV?

abstract:If you are in a lively book group who enjoys reading non-fiction, history, biography and discussing current events, you may be selected as one of four groups by C-SPAN2's Book TV for filming and airing this fall. Spread the word to your book group friends to sign-up with www.BookBuffet.com as we prepare to select groups from our membership at the invitation of Book TV for this exciting opportunity!

article:July 18, 2005 —

Who is Book TV?

Book TV is the 1998 spin-off of Booknotes a public broadcast on C-SPAN. They offer 48 hours over the weekend from 8am Saturday morning to 8am Monday morning of in depth coverage of authors, publishers and best sellers from across the country. Executive Producer is Connie Doebele and the Producer of this particular show is Amy Roach.

How Do I Participate?

We are going through our membership list looking for BookBuffet Book Groups who meet the qualifications. If you would like to be considered e-mail us! We will vet and submit a list of hopefuls to the Book TV producers.

If you know of any friends in book groups who may want to take advantage of this unique opportunity — tell them to join BookBuffet! We can't include you, if we don't know about you. BookBuffet offers your book group a home page to stay organized, a book archive list to keep track of the books you read, communication tools and tons of research and information -- and great ideas for book selections.

What More Should I Know?

C-SPAN is the broadcasting network in the US that offered Booknotes: Television's Longest-Running Book Program that had its final taping last December. Their tagline was "One Author, One Book, One Hour" and they have a dozen years of author interviews and in-depth discussions available on their website.

One of the interesting policies of Booknotes was that a guest could only ever appear once - regardless of whether a later book became a resounding success. For example Bill Clinton could not appear again when his book My Life was published, as he had previously been interviewed 1996 for Between Hope and History.

In 1998, the success of Booknotes led to the creation of a weekly 48-hour non-fiction programming block on C-SPAN2 called "Book TV."

C-SPAN, the political network of record, was created in 1979 by America's cable companies as a public service. C-SPAN is currently available in 82 million households nationwide. For more information visit c-span.org

A Sampling of Authors, Books & Interviews from BookTV

The Genious Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank, David Plotz (Random House June 2005). David is managing editor for Slate Magazine and Mr. Plotz details his investigation into what happened to the 217 children born as a result of the Repository for Germinal Choice, nicknamed the Nobel Prize sperm bank. Learn who started this program and what ensued - the incredible story of eugenics practiced in the USA.

To Be Aired on Sunday July 24th at 12:00 pm

2005 Harlem Book Fair: Black Classics LIVE at the 2005 Harlem Book Fair, a discussion on how a book becomes a classic and what authors are writing them. Panelists Herb Boyd, David Levering Lewis, Sondra Kathryn Wilson and Ellese Southerland discuss why some modern classics are being overlooked.

To Be Aired on Saturday July 23rd at 3:00pm

Bad News: The Decline of Reporting, the Business of News, and the Danger to Us AllTom Fenton (Regan Books Mar 2005) Mr. Fenton argues that the news media must disengage from the entertainment-industry and regain the trust of the public. He is interviewed by Roger Mudd, former co-anchor of NBC's Nightly News and moderator of Meet the Press. Tom Fenton was a foreign correspondent for CBS News from 1970 until 2004. He covered major news events in Europe, the Middle East, Russia and Africa during his 34-year career as a CBS News correspondent.

Order the Book TV Interview of Tom Fenton

Democracy in America: Professor Harvey Mansfield and Delba Winthrop translated, edited, and wrote an introduction for the new edition, (University Chicago Press) the third translation since the original two-volume work was published in 1835 and 1840. Alexis de Tocqueville was a French aristocrat, who came to the United States in the 1830s primarily to study the prison systems, but who became fascinated with American life, politics, and morals. Mr. Tocqueville based his book on observations, reading, and discussions with American citizens. It is lauded as the most definitive translation - a blueprint for democracy around the world.

We hope you take some time to browse these resource sites, watch the programming, read the wealth of information available as transcripts, or purchase from their archives in DVD format. Insert a little non-fiction in your book group schedule from these excellent sources.